The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-12-01

told me, would take the place of letter.
writing for ordinary business purposes,
when there was occasion to say more
than few words. Also, that the pho.
nograph voice was q clear and distinct
one, about twice as loud as the voice of q
good telephone. I was not telling half
the truth concerning the coming wonder.
Out at Orange, within sight of Edison's
superb country home, in one of the lab
.ratory buildings upon which. he is
spending q quarter of "a million dollars, /
found the first phonograph which has
not been seen BY any but Edfison saself
and half dozen Of his most trusted
assistants. In reaching the inner room,
where Edison conducts his most careful
experiments, one has to pass through
several workshops and through the busi-
ness offices of the labratory. These
latter are almost like those Of bank
bookkeepers, safes and all the fixtures Of
q business Office. Probably the expenses
Of the labratory alone do not fall short
of $1,000 or s1,50O week. In this
inner labratory the phonograpb, from
which the patterns for the wholesale
manufacture of the instrument are taken,
stands on plain pine table, beneath
which are the four cells that run the lit
tie motor attached. Ito the instrument.
Yesterday it was not in perfect adjust
ment, owing to the frequent dismounting
necessary in making accurate measure:
ments of the different parts; The who,e
instrument was shown to me upon con-
sdition that I should not describe the
curious features Of the reproducing part,
upon which the patents have not been
yet issued, although applied for long
time ago. In appearance the new pho
nograph is triae like typewriter and
occupies about the same space. Wires
from the battery can be run up through
the table or at the side of the table,
while the battery itself can be slowed
away in any convenient corner. There
is nothing electrical about the phono.
graph; the sole purpose Of the electric
motor is to give perfectly even motion
to the metal cylinder upon which is
placed the tia foil or the wax sheet used
in getting an impression of the vibra.
tions made by the sensitive diaphragm.
In the first monographs of ten years ago
this cylinder was turned by hand; later
it was turned by clock work. The pres.
emf motor starts at a touch Of little
switch and will keep on all day ifneces-
sary, running at a perfectly even speed
and without the slightest noise. Edison
estimates that four cells Of battery will
run the motor four or five hours day
for a month. At the end of that time
the.ccst Of renewing the battery will be
less than dollar.
WHAT 1T LOOKS LIKE AND HOW IT
WORKS.
The moving part of the motor is
placed under cover, so that the chief
parts of the machine in view are the
slowly revolving cylinder and the mouth.
pieces used for making an impression
upon the phonogram, as the wax or tin
sheets is called. For the present Edison
uses thin wax cylinder, which is placed
over the permanent metal cylinder Of the
phonograph. The preparation to talk is
but matter of two seconds: The wax
cylinder is slipped over the metal one, a
touch of the switch starts the motor, the
mouth.piece is adjusted to the cylinder
and all is ready. As test of the dis
tinctness with which the phonograph
talks, Edison asked me to leave the room
while he read out something from book.
When came back he offered me little
ear phone connected with the phono.
graph, and I listened while he started
the apparatus. Nothing but an extra
ordinary tumble of sound reached
me. Edison is quite deaf and failed to
adjust the instrument properly. An
assistant fixed it in an instant and lis.
tened with much amazement to Edison's
voice reading out a long list of geograph-
ical names. Owing to the noise made by
the workmen in the room I could not
catch every word, but I heard enough
during the intervals of perfect quiet to
show me that in quiet place I could get
every syllable. Standing four feet away
frons the phone the voice of the phono.
graph was perfectly audible, although it
is hard to distinguish words. No tele-
phone that have ever tried has thrown
out sound with so much volume as this.
The character of the voice is more true
to the original than the telephone ls, and
T could tell at once whether Edison or
one of his assistants had read out some
thing for the phonograph to repeat. So
far as the actual talking of the machine
goes, there can be no doubt whatever as
to the success of the invention. Inasmuch
as it can be made to repeat as many
times as needed if any one does not
understand the first time, it is only neces-
sary to go back. One of the editors of a
scientific paper, to whom whole page of
"Nicholas Nickleby" was read few
days ago, made out eighty per cent. of
the .yords at the first reading, and every
word at the second reading. The pho.
nograms are to be sold in several sizes,
one for commercial letters will
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